Stupid mistakes and bone headed thinking.

[Deda]

There are lots of long time soapers here, along with tons of new soapmakers.

Those of you that have been making soap for a million years, you know it seems like you never didn't know how to make it. But that's not true. We were all newbies, once.

I learned to make soap from an article in Mother Earth News, I made it that way for a couple years, crisco, water, lye. No scents or colors. Only Crisco. Never knew there were forums (gasp!) that had info on soapmaking (or anything else...).

One glorious day I decided to use some olive oil and some sunflower, canola and grapeseed oils I saw in the grocery store. Lye calculation? What's that? I just used 3 lbs of oil, 6 oz of lye and 1.5 cups of water! I did this for about 4 batches, one a week. Until the first batch was cured 30 days. Well, let me tell you, I had no idea what I was doing. I was so lucky I didn't burn myself or my family.

My 'recipe' was only off a few grams, not enough to matter or do harm. But I had no way to know that. I didn't know I was doing anything wrong!

I saw a book in the library with some soap recipes and it talked about measuring out lye by grams, and how much to use based on the kinds of oils.

Can you say "lightbulb moment"?

Anyway, that's my shameful horrible truth. Nearly 10 years ago I started making soap, only about 8 years ago did I learn that you needed to calculate the amount of lye.

Go ahead, laugh at me.

Then share your lamest soapmaking moment.

 

[Tegan]

Well.....I was teaching a class....but I was having really brain dead day. And I measured EVERYTHING out before hand, made my lye solution before hand....


So we're in class and I have all my oils melted and at the right temp and I look at my lye solution and go "Hmmmmm....that doesn't look right....." it was still kinda white and cloudy....so I stir it a little....and it never goes to clear....so I pop it on the scale and do the math and.....I LEFT OUT ALMOST ALL MY WATER!!!!! I had measured the lye, then I used the same measurement for the water! OOPS!!! So I added more water in, it heats up nice and hot...and I smile at the gals I'm teaching and say....

"Well....we all make mistakes...." Thankfully I noticed it before I dumped it into my oils.....hehehe.

 

[lovethyscent]

I burned my face the first time I soaped almost 5 years ago lol. Hubby was helping me at first and I took a whirl at it and raw soap splashed on my face, didn't realize it until I felt the itch. Thank goodness for the mask though and eye protection. Still to this day I still wear it and cringe at people I see on youtube that don't.

 

[Soaplady22]

Welllll.......... I thought (once many many years ago) that I could change the blue color of my soap to the purple it was supposed to be by putting it in a warm oven. All I got was wilted soap!!! (Apparently heat wasn't the issue!!)

 

[Tabitha]

Well, when I was getting ready to sell my B&B wares at my 1st craft show, I decided to be unique & put my sugar scrubs into 8oz boston round bottles instead of jars (like everyone else). They went in the jars easy enough. I sold them at a craft show only to find out later that they seperated & wouldn't come back out of the bottle. When you tipped the bottle all the oil (which had floated to the top) ran ot of the bottle while the sugar wouldn't budge .

 

[paillo]

my first time i was TERRIFIED of the lye and made the tiniest batch, like a matchbox sized loaf in a tiny tupperwear. yard sale scarecrow -- elbow-length heavy gloves, heavy clothes, boots, apron, goggles, dust mask, hat. towels on the floor, thermometers (2), everyone ordered out of the house. once it was done i sat down and shook for a long time -- survived the experience! and of course was hooked.

that and the next few attempts came down with DOS a few months down the line. many subsequent tense moments of volcanoes, splashes on the hardwood floor, many, many complete failures. learn from those mistakes? you betcha. and i wouldn't be a soaper today if not for this forum

 

[Soaplady22]

"... and i wouldn't be a soaper today if not for this forum."

I second that! This forum was a life saver. Hmmm ... maybe literally.

 

[AmyW]

I think I would have a lot of lame moments if not for this forum. I am not creative or overall crafty by nature, but soap making fit that little niche I didn't know I wanted to fill of cool-craft-science and just that little touch of "danger" that if I screw up.... bad joojoo.

Some day I'll do something and not consult the experts. Lets hope my roof doesn't blow up when it happens lol

 

[Lynnz]

I have on more than one occassion left my fragrance out and the most embarrasing was when a good friend cam over and I am rabbiting on to her about the process of soaping while making her a custom log that was supposed to smell beautifully of Kumquat. No smell whatsoever found the fragrance on the bench after the fact :roll: :roll: Now I sit my measure of fragrance into the log so that if it happens again I will catch it before pouring............Well I hope so

 

[MissMori]

Biggest bone head move... deciding I didn't need to wear gloves while making soap the day after eating crab. My hands had little cuts and scratches from the crab shell... OUCH!!!

 

[maya]

i soaped outside. i thought that lye and water mixed could somehow take over the house.

so i am soaping out side and i have so much protective gear on that i look like i dunno... very very very well protected. i had on an apron (a mechanic apron) gloves up to my biceps, a scarf on my hair, goggles, long sleeves, thick socks, shoes, pants, a mask. everything.

so i am taking a picture of myself in my soaping gear and my dad walks up and says

"what are you doing, cleaning a deer?" it isn't a boneheaded move to wear protective gear or anything but i musta looked rediculas to the neighbors.

 

[jcandleattic]

My bonehead move was when I was making liquid soap. For some reason - even though I KNEW that KOH is lye, - I didn't think it was "as caustic" as NaOH. umm, duh - anyway, so I was making my liquid soap, had all my protective gear on, but spilled some of the flakes (like 3 of them) on my nice beautiful butcherblock kitchen table - I didn't think anything of it because you know, after all, in my thinking, KOH = non caustic, so I thought I'd wait until after I was done making the liquid soap to clean it off the table.
Yep, I now have 3 awesome burn holds on my otherwise beautiful butcherblock kitchen table that are just horrible.
Have no idea what I was thinking at the time.

 

[busymakinsoap!]

My biggest bone head momment was making whipped soap.
I let go of the container while I was whipping, the pot started spinning out of control - raw soap EVERYWHERE, the walls, the ceiling, the oven, cupboards and floor, I was still finding spots of it weeks later. The worst part was it was bright purple

Also when I first started soaping, I kept reading that the lye and oils needed to be within 10deg of each other, but didnt know that the lye needed to cool. So I was just heating up all my oils to match my lye temps, couldnt understand why every batch I made was an oozy oily mess - this forum saved me too

 

[AmyW]

Thought about it more and I think my worst is repeatedly forgetting oatmeal. 2 loaves swirls totally ruined because I remembered it like the moment it was poured and I saw the bag of oat flour on the counter. Grr. A couple batches, I said screw it, not ruining my swirl, but others were gifts for people who want the scrubby.

 

[judymoody]

Not boneheaded but silly: first couple of batches, my husband made we wear a complete haz-mat suit as well as goggles and gloves. I looked like a ghostbuster and it was incredibly hot. I mixed my lye outdoors and when I brought it in, he freaked out and made everybody go to the opposite end of the house.

Boneheaded: started to wipe down the SB before unplugging it. Shan't do that again. Fortunately the damage was minor. :wink:

ETA one more boneheaded move: adding instant coffee to my soaping oils so as to avoid the lye stink. Guess what, it doesn't dissolve that way!

 

[Sunny Side]

I once poured an EO in a plastic cup. The end result was a huge spot on my wood dinning room table.

 

[Moonblossom]

I was turning around to pour my newly made ITP swirled soap into my vertical mold, starting tipping it in and oops forgot to put the clamps on the sides so my soap poured all over my floor. "i'm short so it's easier for me to pour vertical on the floor." That was the cleanest floor for awhile after of course I degreased it to get all the oils off. Man talk about mad at myself.

 

[JackiK]

Of course, mine is a lye story also. I had decided that I would melt my oils and make my lye water in the morning, before work. Then, when I got home, they would be at the perfect temp to mix.

Since I was afraid of too much condensation from the lye mixture causing a loss of moisture, I laid a lid on top. Too bad the lid was too big. The lye water that did accumulate on the lid from the heat dripped onto my countertop. I have one of those beautiful lye marks, too!!

 

[cp chick]

Before I got my PVC pipe molds, I had the bright idea of using empty rolls from packing tape. I placed them on a baking sheet, which was covered with waxed paper and poured away. Figured that the soap batter would be thick enough to stay in the mold. Thankfully, I managed to scrape most of the batter up with a rubber spatula into another mold.

 

[Jezzy]

Like most you I made my first batches protected like I was about to be splitting atoms. 8)

It was funny. I read up for about a year before making my first batch so I was pretty sure what to expect but I was still very scared.

I also burned the crap out of my tongue when I licked an hour old soap because I wanted to make sure I knew what a zap was. :roll: